Tag Archives: Data and computer security | The Guardian

Medibank class action launched after massive hack put private information of millions on dark web

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Law firm Baker McKenzie says company failed to protect privacy of customers in Australia and overseas

The law firm Baker McKenzie has launched a class action lawsuit against Medibank over the health insurer’s massive cyber attack last year that resulted in the personal details of up to 10 million customers being posted on the dark web.

In what became the largest breach of its kind to date in Australia, the hack on Medibank resulted in the personal details of 9.7 million current and former customers, including 5.1 million Medibank customers, 2.8 million ahm customers and 1.8 million international customers, being leaked.

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Why Twitter ending free access to its APIs should be a ‘wake-up call’

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The social media network is putting its APIs – the under-praised tool that keeps the internet as we know it going – behind a paywall. This cash grab will fundamentally change Twitter

APIs may not seem like the sexiest thing to write about in a tech newsletter, but bear with me. Because APIs – or application programming interfaces – are important. They’re the synapses of our digital world: without them, our current ways of living wouldn’t work.

For example, when you visit a website that requires you to log in, and you choose to connect with a Google or Facebook account, you’re utilising an API. That click of a button that links your existing account on one platform with a new account on another is enabled by an API. They spring into action whenever one type of work interacts with another, working to bridge that gap. APIs are the overlooked and under-praised army that keeps the internet as we know it going.

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‘I’m not Snow White. I have to think like a criminal’: how I became a burglar for hire

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Jenny Radcliffe is a professional ‘people hacker’ – someone who claims she can get past anyone and get in anywhere. No building is secure. How does she do it? Plus, an extract from her memoir

‘Do I look like someone to mess with?” says Jenny Radcliffe, folding her arms in a really-don’t-mess-with-me kind of way. Her tattoos seem to be making the point, too. On her left forearm is a Latin phrase – facta non verba, actions not words – with a pair of devil’s horns; on her right, a feather, from the wings of an angel. Which is she, I wonder. Her boots – DM-like, many eyelets – suggest no angel; but the T-shirt is emblazoned with “Trust Me”.

Radcliffe has an unusual job: she’s a social engineer. “Also known as a professional burglar, physical penetration tester … though it’s difficult to say that one to old ladies on trains,” she says. Yes, I can see that.

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MyGov app facing overhaul to centralise online identification

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Audit review of government tool housing Medicare and Centrelink services recommends significant changes

The federal government’s much-malinged myGov app faces an overhaul and could soon be used for online identity verification, as well as an increasing number of government services.

An audit review, undertaken by former Telstra chief executive David Thodey and a panel of experts appointed by the Albanese government in September last year, recommended a significant overhaul of myGov, which houses Medicare and Centrelink.

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Australia to consider European-style right to be forgotten privacy laws

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Attorney general promises a ‘whole range’ of modernisations of the Privacy Act to follow new customer data protection laws

The right to be forgotten and a right to sue for privacy breaches will be considered for the next tranche of Australian legislation, the attorney general has said.

Mark Dreyfus made the comments on Monday, promising to consider European-style privacy reforms after his bill increasing penalties for companies that fail to protect customer data passed in 2022.

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Cybersecurity firm links Piers Morgan Twitter hack to leak of 400 million records including Scott Morrison’s

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Morrison’s name and official email address appeared in a sample of allegedly hacked data that was published online

Former prime minister Scott Morrison appears to have been caught up in a leak of partial data on 400 million Twitter users.

Morrison’s Twitter account was included in a sample of data released by an alleged cybercriminal last week, on the same site used by the Optus data hacker.

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Clare O’Neil on national security amid cyber hacks and threats to democracy

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In the final episode of Australian Politics for 2022, political editor Katharine Murphy speaks to the minister for home affairs and cyber security Clare O’Neil about the strategic challenges for Australia and the region. These include the increased likelihood of cyber-attacks, decreasing trust in democracy and growing risks of foreign interference

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Home affairs and the long view – Clare O’Neil’s speech at the National Press Club

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TPG reveals emails of 15,000 iiNet and Westnet customers exposed in hack

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Telecommunications company says hacker searched for customers’ cryptocurrency and financial information

Telecommunications giant TPG has revealed an email-hosting service used by up to 15,000 iiNet and Westnet customers has been breached, with the hacker looking for cryptocurrency and other financial information.

TPG said in a release to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Wednesday that cybersecurity firm Mandiant had found evidence of unauthorised access to a Hosted Exchange service used by iiNet and Westnet customers.

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Telstra sorry for publishing up to 130,000 customers’ details online

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Release of names, numbers and addresses of some unlisted customers was not due to cyber-attack

Telstra has apologised after publishing the details of thousands of customers online.

The company said the release of the names, numbers and addresses of some unlisted customers was not the result of any malicious cyber-attack and was a mistake. Reports say up to 130,000 customers have been affected.

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Apple announces new security and privacy measures amid spike in cyber attacks

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Encryption of iCloud storage means the information will be safeguarded from hackers as well as government agencies

Apple announced a suite of security and privacy improvements on Wednesday that the company is pitching as a way to help people protect their data from hackers, including one that civil liberty and privacy advocates have long pushed for.

The tech giant will soon allow users to choose to secure more of the data backed up to their iCloud using end-to-end encryption, which means no one but the user will be able to access that information.

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